This just in from Editor Cliff Gerstang, that EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET, VOLUME II (cf. November 27, September 29, et al.) can now be obtained in a Kindle edition. One need but press here. But for those new to this blog (or perhaps short of memory), let us now take a trip on the Wayback Machine to July 25 2016, quoting from publisher Press 53: With a theme of “It’s a Mysterious World,” this exciting addition to the EVERYWHERE STORIES series, edited by award-winning author Clifford Garstang, takes readers on a journey around the globe: to a wrestling match in Turkey, to a mysterious eye doctor in Guatelmala, to a homeless man wandering the streets of Chicago, to a religious school in Samoa, to a drowning in Mexico, to a fortune-telling monk in Korea, to a miraculous hotel in Egypt, and to more stories in countries on every continent.

Yes, that EVERYWHERE STORIES, VOLUME II, originally published in good ol’ print in the days of yore on September 26. So these things take time, sometimes. My tale in this one is “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” of crime and family life gone sour in the Sahara Desert, originally told in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, November 1991, and also reprinted in my collection STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE (for more information, click its pic in the center column). Or for the print version of EVERYWHERE STORIES, VOL II, us dead tree buffs can still press here.

In a slightly belated announcement (I just got the news yesterday myself), EVERYWHERE STORIES, VOLUME II (cf. September 18, 6, et al.) was officially published Monday this week, September 26. This means it can be ordered on Amazon, B&L, etc., as well as directly from publisher Press 53, this last by pressing here. Edited by Clifford Gerstang, and not necessarily genre bound, the book contains tales set in various countries the world over, no two repeated. Mine for instance, originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE (also in my collection, STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE), is “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” set in Mali, a horrorish crime tale of family relations gone bad in the Sahara Desert.

For those in the Washington DC/Virginia/North Carolina area, several signings for EVERYWHERE STORIES have been planned, for updates on which one can check out their Facebook page here. Also for a bit more information, an article on the launch appeared in the AUGUSTA (Virginia) FREE PRESS, and can be found here.

We have a quick a double header to announce for today, that not just one but two Elder Signs Press anthologies are now available for pre-order from Amazon: DARK HORIZONS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF DARK SCIENCE FICTION (see just below) and STREET MAGICK: TALES OF URBAN FANTASY (with DARK HORIZONS, see also January 22, et al.). Needless to say I have stories in both, the near-future set “Dark of the Moon” in the former and a late 1950s tale of vampires and Cold War paranoia in Cambridge Massachusetts, “Bottles,” in the latter. Both have histories, “Bottles” also appearing in my own collection, THE TEARS OF ISIS, and now both will be available for new readers as well.

More on both these anthologies can be found on Amazon, DARK HORIZONS by pressing here and STREET MAGIC here, while for THE TEARS OF ISIS one can click on its picture in the center column, or check it out on Amazon here.

Also, yesterday’s street mail brought my copy of EVERYWHERE TALES, VOLUME 2 (cf. July 25, et al.), from Press 53, with my “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, an adventure of deserts and double crossings for more on which one can press here.

Sunday night saw an announcement from Clifford Garstang that EVERYWHERE STORIES, Volume 2 (see July 13, et al.) has gone to the printer for an expected September 26 publication date. However it’s open for pre-order now, with a discount available for ordering Volume 1 as well. Quoting publisher Press 53’s official release: With a theme of “It’s a Mysterious World,” this exciting addition to the EVERYWHERE STORIES series, edited by award-winning author Clifford Garstang, takes readers on a journey around the globe: to a wrestling match in Turkey, to a mysterious eye doctor in Guatelmala, to a homeless man wandering the streets of Chicago, to a religious school in Samoa, to a drowning in Mexico, to a fortune-telling monk in Korea, to a miraculous hotel in Egypt, and to more stories in countries on every continent.

My story in this is “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, November 1991 (also reprinted in STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE, for information on which one may click on its picture in the center column), which takes place in the Sahara Desert in Mali. Here, however, it appears with four other stories set in Africa and fifteen more elsewhere in the world, each story in a different nation. For more information or for pre-ordering one may press here.

Also for movie buffs, yesterday’s browsing brought, via Facebook, a piece by Rebekah McKendry on BLUMHOUSE.COM, “Can Viewing this Film Really Make You Go Insane?” It seems there’s a lost film, allegedly made in 1897 — the year, incidentally, Bram Stoker’s DRACULA was published in England, possibly made by Georges Méliès or, some say, a disciple named Victor Sicarius who (it is also alleged) was involved in matters of the occult. But the thing is, according to McKendry, [this] film is a legend because it is rumored to actually cause audiences to go insane, FURY OF THE DEMON from the late 1800s. At the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, I just screened a fantastic documentary called LA RAGE DU DÉMON (a.k.a. FURY OF THE DEMON) about the original film, the legend, the possible filmmaker, and the alleged resurfacing of the cursed movie. And: Fast forward to 1939. Tod Browning (the guy who made FREAKS and DRACULA), released a feature called MIRACLES FOR SALE. When the film screened in New York City, FURY OF DEMON played before hand. Supposedly, the screening of the short caused the audience to erupt in mass-hysteria. People ripped their hair out and fought fellow audience members. It was a bloody, vicious scene. Eventually, a fire broke out, and six people died in the inflamed theater. The documentary even interviews some of the audience members from the 1939 screening who recall the madness firsthand.

Interest piqued? For more, press here. (And if that’s not enough, a second look at the documentary via IMDb can be found here!)

Editor Cliff Garstang announced today that EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET, VOL. II (see June 19, May 10, February 29, et al.) has had its official publication date moved up to September 26, scarcely more than two months from now. Also announced, the book now has its own Facebook page, including interviews with two of its authors (thus far) and a table of contents. The latter (for which, see also just below), reflecting the book’s international theme, is divided into five major sections spanning five continents (or maybe just over four, depending on how you count “Oceania”) in which my story of family values gone awry, “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” appears in the first, “Africa,” representing the country of Mali.

So that’s sort of nice, putting me third in the book as a whole, even if it’s all a matter of alphabetical order within geographical/political hierarchies. Or something like that. But more to the point, the Facebook page may be browsed at leisure by pressing here.

In other announcements (and in this case simply random, no magic in today’s date either, it just popped up as a “see also” on Facebook) GOTHIC.LIFE brings us “19 Facts About Bram Stoker You Didn’t Know.” Actually I did know some, and some are a little repetitious, one for instance telling us he married Florence Balcombe and hobnobbed with several literary lights of the day including Oscar Wilde, another that he and Wilde were also rival suitors for Florence’s hand (both in the column of those I already knew, but I didn’t know that Flo Stoker brought out the short story collection, DRACULA’S GUEST AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES in 1922 — though it is consistent with things I do know). Also I keep forgetting the name of Henry Irving (Who he? Well, to find out you’ll have to see for yourself by pressing here).

And then, back again to EVERYWHERE STORIES, here’s the lineup of authors and titles:

Another week, another weekend, the writing life goes on. This weekend brought my writing group’s monthly meeting (my story critiqued, a short-short “steampunk romance” that got a better reception there than from editors so far) and, actually received Friday, a full galley proof of EVERYWHERE STORIES, VOLUME 2 (cf. May 10, et al.), with my one-time ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE story “The Wellmaster’s Daughter” number three in the contents lineup.

Her tale originally published in November 1991, and also reprinted in STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE (for details on which, one can press its picture in the center column) and Smart Rhino Publications’s 2012 UNCOMMON ASSASSINS, etc., the daughter in question displays poor judgment in making friends, something that can have dangerous overtones if one’s home is in the Sahara Desert. But part of the subtext of EVERYWHERE STORIES is itself danger, according to Editor Clifford Garstang, along with more than just a touch of the mysterious, with story locations spread over twenty different nations, covering at least five continents.

And so, Sunday night, in the wee, wee late hours, my “okay” of my parts of the text went back, well ahead of a July 10 deadline. The book is still on schedule for an October or possibly earlier release, and therefore should be out from Press 53, LLC, well in time (for those who might, *ahem*, contemplate giving gifts) for a worldwide Halloween celebration.

There it was in the mailbox yesterday afternoon, a mystery package from CreateSpace. With trembling fingers, one tore the box open and . . . yes . . . there it was! From an original acceptance in November 2014, a little delayed, from one of three anthologies now combined into one, my science fiction story, “The Needle-Heat Gun” (see February 22 2016; November 6, 7 2014). The anthology, to give its full title, NIGHT LIGHTS, AN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT FICTION: FIRST CONTACT, CONSPIRACY, AND SPACE OPERA from Geminid Press, more on which can be found by clicking here.

My story is in the “Space Opera” section for reasons apparent, I think, when one reads it, a tale no more serious than it needs to be. And it’s second from last in the anthology proper, the last spot usually good to be in since it’s one the readers will remember but in this case taken by a shorter story that had to be there — one with greater-than-natural implications — and thus nicely positioned in its own right.

Then the second item, the edited proof from Clifford Garstang of Press 53 for “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE in November 1991, along with the contract. The book for this one, to give its full title, EVERYWHERE STORIES VOLUME II: MORE SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET (cf. February 29, below), scheduled to be published in November this year.

The pay wasn’t much, but it could be prestigious, possibly extending circulation outside of genre boundaries. In any event, the call was inciting:

EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET (Edited by Clifford Garstang, published by Press 53 in Fall 2014) is an anthology of short fiction (short stories of any length, short shorts, and flash) set around the globe, including the United States. Volume I consisted of 20 stories by 20 authors set in 20 countries.

Volume II will consist of around 20 fictions, with no more than one story set in any one country. Included stories will be a mix of previously published and new work. . . .

Other terms followed, including a loose theme-by-default, “it’s a dangerous world,” and a list of nations already taken. The mundane, the exotic, the ends of the Earth, the just around the corner. And therewith a challenge that could be kind of fun. What setting could I find so out of the way that no other author might claim it before me?

How about the middle of the Sahara Desert?

So out stepped a story set in Mali a century or so back, “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” of shifting sands and caravan routes and illicit slaving, originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE in November 1991.* Late yesterday the word came back for a pleasant cap to a slightly longer-than-usual February. “Thank you for sending us ‘The Wellmaster’s Daughter.’ We love it and would like to include it in the anthology. We’ll be in touch soon with more details.”

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*For those who might wish for a sneak peek,”The Wellmaster’s Daughter” is included in my 2001 collection STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE. It also appears in Smart Rhino Publications’ 2012 anthology UNCOMMON ASSASSINS (cf. February 7 2014, September 27 2012, et al.).

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About Me

Be on the watch for my newest book, TOMBS: A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH, a novel-in-stories just released from Elder Signs Press in June 2017. I am an Indiana based short story writer and poet with three primarily prose collections, STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE and DARKER LOVES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND REGRET published by Dark Regions Press and the Bram Stoker Award(R) nominated THE TEARS OF ISIS from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, and an illustrated all-poetry collection, VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE), from Sam’s Dot Publishing/ White Cat Publications. I also have a novelette, THE GARDEN (currently out of print) from Damnation Books; electronic chapbooks VANITAS and I’M DREAMING OF A . . . and novelette PEDS from Untreed Reads Publishing; POLUDNITSA in Chamberton Publishing’s “Chimera” short fantasy series; and more than five hundred individual appearances in magazines and anthologies in the US, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, Holland, and Brazil, ranging from ABORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION and ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE to XENOPHILIA and THE YELLOW BAT REVIEW. In the past I have worked a number of jobs including technical writer, city editor on a regional magazine, full time non-fiction freelancer, and semi-professional musician, and now reside in southern Indiana with current cat, Triana, named for the goth-styled daughter of Dr. Orpheus in the VENTURE BROS. Cartoon Channel series. As a writer, I count as influences (among others) Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Allen Ginsberg, and Bertolt Brecht.